Mammoth Site and more-May 31, 2012

About 50 miles south of here is Hot Springs, SD where there is an active dig for mammoths. They built a big building over the site and they conduct tours. They have dug down 22 feet of a 67 foot deep sinkhole that might hold over 100 mammoth skeletons. To date they have uncovered 58 Columbian and wolly mammoths. They are not petrified so the bones are very soft. They dig spring, July and fall. What they uncover in July  takes a complete year to clean, document and catalog. The bones were so easy to distinguish. All skeletons have been males between 12- 29 years of age which is considered to be juveniles in the mammoth world.

A complete jaw bone with 2 full sets of teeth. Tusk is just above the jawbone.

These creatures were just enormous. Tusks were ivory.

We left there and drove through Wind Cave National Park. It was beautiful beyond words and loaded with buffalo. Wait, I think they are correctly called bison.



The one in the middle said, "So what are you looking at?"

And this one said "Leave me alone, I'm moving as fast as I want to".

Single lane bridge and beautiful scenery.

We saw bison, Pronghorns, deer and prairie dogs in Wind Cave NP and some breathtaking scenery. Then we went through Custer State Park. It was not as open and had fewer animals, but still pretty. It was a wonderful day of uncharted waters for us. Now we are planning what we want to do tomorrow. So much to see.